#region Apache License
//
// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more 
// contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
// this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. 
// The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0
// (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with 
// the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.
//
#endregion

using System;

namespace log4net.Util.TypeConverters
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interface supported by type converters
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>
    /// This interface supports conversion from arbitrary types
    /// to a single target type. See <see cref="TypeConverterAttribute"/>.
    /// </para>
    /// </remarks>
    /// <author>Nicko Cadell</author>
    /// <author>Gert Driesen</author>
    public interface IConvertFrom
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Can the source type be converted to the type supported by this object
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sourceType">the type to convert</param>
        /// <returns>true if the conversion is possible</returns>
        /// <remarks>
        /// <para>
        /// Test if the <paramref name="sourceType"/> can be converted to the
        /// type supported by this converter.
        /// </para>
        /// </remarks>
        bool CanConvertFrom(Type sourceType);

        /// <summary>
        /// Convert the source object to the type supported by this object
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="source">the object to convert</param>
        /// <returns>the converted object</returns>
        /// <remarks>
        /// <para>
        /// Converts the <paramref name="source"/> to the type supported
        /// by this converter.
        /// </para>
        /// </remarks>
        object ConvertFrom(object source);
    }
}
